Few subjects invoke more controversy than the past history and current influence of Diaspora Jews in Western societies and the nature of their relationship with the state of Israel. David Goldberg discusses these issues with authority, wisdom and humour: the role of Israel in Jewish life, the question of Jewish identity in an increasingly multicultural world and the minimal hold of religious belief on what nowadays is an overwhelmingly secular people.Gerald Jacobs, writing a review for the Telegraph says, "David Goldberg's 'This Is Not The Way' is a humane history of Judaism, Zionism and Israel."
Goldberg argues that many of the shibboleths of the Jewish establishment, especially in the USA, are exaggerated or false. It is wrong automatically to equate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism: one can be a trenchant critic of Israeli policies without being hostile to all Jews: 'Zionism as an ideology should no more be protected from critical analysis than capitalism, socialism, colonialism or Islamism.' Israel is often treated too indulgently, he argues, by the Diaspora. It is becoming an alien place for secular or religiously liberal Jews who find its aggressive nationalism and assertive fundamentalism increasingly difficult to take. And the axiomatic identification of Israel with the Holocaust - always using the enormity of the latter to justify the actions of the former - has had baneful results for both.
His discussion of the perennial 'Who is a Jew?' question is equally trenchant. He rejects all previous rabbinic criteria for defining Jewish status, proposing that a Jew is simply anyone who insists that he or she is one, because ultimately what can be truer than self-definition?
Forthright, challenging and witty, this humane and provocative overview of a remarkable people whose contribution to world culture has been enormous will stimulate debate, criticism and approval in equal measure.
His views on Israel tend to be described as “trenchant”, his attitude to religious teachings as “radical”. Certainly in his new book his more conservative fellow clergy, along with the Israeli government, do get a battering. But the book is much more than a demolition job, and his criticism is grounded in a cogent, positive and humane outlook.
In his view, the majority of Jews today merely pay lip-service to traditional, religious Judaism. Any individual who applies his or her mind seriously to that body of teaching, Goldberg suggests, will be unable to sustain an honest belief in the God of the Jewish Bible, or in the narrative that has served so long as a bulwark of such belief. But, Goldberg argues, too many fail to apply their minds and instead take the easy route of conformism and satisfy their emotional appetites with a diet of Zionism and the Holocaust.
All of these issues – Judaism, God, the Bible (expressly its first five books in which the religious laws are located), Zionism and the Holocaust – are important to Rabbi Goldberg. He does not reject them. He wants them to be reconsidered in line with contemporary moral sensibilities and modern understanding of science and history.
One of Goldberg’s prime targets are “knee-jerk” defenders of modern Israel. People who insult the intelligence of their fellow Jews and gentiles alike, thoughtlessly stigmatise opponents (not to mention Palestinians) and promote an obdurate, self-righteous and dangerous attitude to peace negotiations. Goldberg’s strongest condemnation is for those who, he says, deflect criticism of Israel by calling it anti-Semitism in anti-Zionist clothing.Read more here
See also Rabbi Dr David Goldberg
mmmmm. I think I know what David means.
